SAN DIEGO – Bellator president Scott Coker acknowledged Saturday night that there is “a lot of uncertainty and a lot of unknowns” surrounding the company.
Rumors have run rampant that Viacom, which owns Bellator and Showtime Boxing, is looking to get out of the fight business, leaving both combat sports promotions in limbo. Specifically with Bellator, Coker first acknowledged this past June that a merger with PFL was being discussed. Since then, he’s remained mostly silent on the topic.
That changed during the Bellator 300 post-event news conference at Pechanga Arena, where Coker fielded several questions about the status of the company.
“We’ll see where the future goes as far as if a deal is gonna happen or not gonna happen,” Cokersaid. “These things take time, and until the time gets solidified it’s just speculation.”
Coker has been in a similar situation before with Strikeforce. Back in 2011, the UFC purchased the now-defunct promotion from Coker for $40 million. While this current experience with Bellator is nothing new to Coker, there is a difference.
“Keep in mind: I don’t own Bellator,” Coker said. “Bellator is not my company to own or to sell or to keep or to merge. It’s owned by Viacom, and they have a process that they do, and they’re doing what they need to do. It’s not something I own to sell or not sell. …
“It’s hard for me to really comment on (the situation) because it’s completely different. Now, there are some feelings that feel the same, but at the end of the day it’s not my company.”
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Coker, who’s been at the helm of Bellator since June 2014, didn’t comment when asked if his contract includes language that would prevent him from continuing to promote fights.
He spoke glowingly about the company by touting the influx of homegrown talent on the roster, which has sparked legitimate debate about whether certain Bellator champions and ex-champs –such as Johnny Eblen, Yaroslav Amosov, A.J. McKee, and more – could beat the UFC champs in the their division.
Coker also pointed out that no other U.S.-based MMA promotion not named the UFC is drawing thousands of fans into arenas on the regular.
“It’s been a great, great experience to watch this company grow,” Coker said. “Think about it: When you think about – what other company right now besides the UFC is going to arenas and basically selling what we do here? Or we sold out in Paris, we’ve sold out in Ireland a couple times, we’ve sold out in Chicago. I mean, it’s good to see the brand grow.”
Be that as it may from Coker’s perspective, the reality is that Bellator’s future is uncertain. The topic has even been addressed by UFC president Dana White, who recently questioned why anyone would consider purchase Bellator before changing his tune a week later that “it’s a good thing” if the promotion continues to exist.
What White or any other promoter thinks of Bellator isn’t of much concern to Coker.
“We have a great company,” Coker said. “When you talk about clear No. 2 in the space, nobody has the fighters that we have. Nobody can pack this arena like we can pack it, other than the UFC. When I think about negative comments coming from other promoters, it just is what it is. I’m not really impacted by that. I really try to focus on the business at hand and what’s important to the growth of this company and the growth to try and keep this going forward.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.